A benchmark-surpassing brand awareness campaign: an in-depth breakdown

The objective was twofold: to not only reinvigorate the interest of existing listeners but also to captivate and draw in new audiences. This case study delves into the strategic approaches adopted across two distinct rounds of campaigns, highlighting the initial efforts, the insights gained, subsequent optimizations, and the tangible results achieved.

The Story

The solution

To effectively tap into their desired demographic, a dual-platform approach was adopted, leveraging both Facebook and Snapchat. Facebook, with its vast reach of 4.8 million users in Norway across its main platform and Instagram, offered extensive visibility. Snapchat, known for its younger user base, was strategically chosen to cater to this demographic. Moreover, Snapchat's Unskippable Ads feature was utilized to ensure maximum brand recognition and engagement.

The ad creatives

P5's advertising strategy employed three distinct video lengths: 20, 10, and 6 seconds. These variations were crafted not only to determine the optimal video duration for the P5 audience but also to leverage retargeting capabilities with shorter video snippets. The 6-second constraint of Snapchat's Unskippable ads further influenced the decision to create multiple versions.

Given that the P5 Hits show boasts a dynamic and engaging host, it was imperative that the ad mirrored this energy. Each ad was designed with a compelling hook—be it a facial expression, sound effect, text, or speech—to captivate viewers and halt their scroll.

VISUALS: 

A side-by-side comparison of the 20, 10, and 6-second video ads, illustrating the strategic thinking behind each length and its intended audience engagement impact.

First Campaign Overview: Targeted Digital Marketing for P5 Hits

TRY's initial approach harnessed the power of targeted social media advertising to engage the core demographic of 25-40-year-olds in Norway. The campaign utilized dynamic video content across Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, focusing on capturing audience attention and driving brand awareness.

Strategically Curated Content: A key video was produced in three lengths (6, 10, and 20 seconds) to test viewer engagement, revealing that retargeting users who initially engaged with the 20-second version significantly enhanced completion rates for the shorter versions.

VISUALS: 3 main numbers/accomplishments with large numbers and under them a title.

Facebook and Instagram Engagement:

• Targeting Strategies: Utilized broad targeting and specific retargeting based on user engagement levels, significantly amplifying brand recognition with over 3 million impressions and reaching 620,000 users.
• Ad Formats: Employed Feed Video Ads and Instagram Story Ads to maximize engagement and leverage Instagram's active user base.
  
  

Snapchat's Unique Impact:

• Ad Formats: Incorporated Single Video Ads and Unskippable Ads, the latter ensuring complete viewer attention with a remarkable 73% completion rate, highlighting the platform's efficacy in sustaining user engagement.
  
  

Leveraging Feedback for Strategic Refinement: Positive feedback informed adjustments in targeting and retargeting strategies, effectively expanding audience reach while maintaining engagement quality.

Ad Creative Performance:

Strategic Ad Variations: The campaign harnessed different video lengths (6, 10, and 20 seconds) to optimize viewer engagement. Shorter videos were retargeted to users who had engaged with the 20-second version, enhancing video completion rates.

VISUALS: ad performance comparison chart

• Engagement Insights: The 6-second and 10-second videos showed superior engagement with completion rates of 48% and 38%, respectively, among users retargeted after engaging with the 20-second video. This strategic retargeting significantly boosted engagement metrics, demonstrating the value of custom audience targeting based on prior interaction.

• Performance Metrics: Despite the higher cost per ThruPlay for shorter videos, their enhanced completion rates provided a valuable trade-off, affirming the strategy's effectiveness in driving complete views.

Second Campaign Round: Strategic Enhancements for P5 Hits

TRY's continued efforts in the second campaign round for P5 Hits focused on refining and optimizing strategies to achieve an even greater impact.

Advanced Targeting Techniques

The second campaign leveraged Facebook's Advantage+ custom audiences for retargeting, significantly enhancing reach efficiency while maintaining a sharply defined target audience. This refinement allowed for more sophisticated audience engagement strategies, tapping into nuanced user behaviors and preferences to deliver content that resonated more deeply and broadly.

Expanded Audience Reach

Building on the success of the initial campaign, TRY strategically widened the targeted age range on both Facebook and Snapchat. This expansion aimed to attract a larger audience segment, enhancing the campaign's ability to capture a more diverse listener base without compromising the relevance and impact of the messaging.

VISUALS: 3 main numbers/accomplishments with large numbers and under them a title.

Performance Improvements

• A 2% increase in stop-effect, indicating a higher rate of user engagement and interest in the ad content as they scrolled through their social media feeds.
• A 5% rise in completion rates for the videos, showing that a greater percentage of viewers watched the ads to their completion, enhancing overall engagement.
• More cost-effective engagement, with the average cost per click to the landing page improving from 43 to 37 NOK, demonstrating a more efficient use of budget and resources.
• The campaign also outperformed agency-wide benchmarks for similar campaigns, highlighting its exceptional success in engaging the target audience and achieving the set objectives.

Strategic Validation and Focus on Creativity

The second round's success further validated the strategic emphasis on content quality and creative presentation. Positive outcomes from this phase reinforced the importance of leveraging compelling, engaging content to capture and maintain the audience's attention, underlining the critical role of creativity in driving digital marketing success.

Campaign Comparisons: Insights and Enhancements

The iterative enhancements from the first to the second digital marketing campaign for P5 Hits resulted in tangible performance improvements.

VISUALS: Campaign Comparisons: A comprehensive comparison chart or infographic detailing key improvements and strategic adjustments from the first to the second campaign, underlining the lessons learned and the impact of those learnings on campaign performance.

• Key Metric Improvements: The completion rate saw an increase from 38% to 43%, and the stop-effect improved from 25% to 27%. The average cost per click (CPC) decreased from 43kr to 37kr, alongside an increase in average play time from 2.69 seconds to 3.40 seconds.

• Strategic Adjustments Impact: By refining targeting and focusing spend on better-performing video lengths, the campaign achieved higher efficiency. Eliminating underperforming audience segments and making shorter content available to all viewers played a significant role in enhancing performance.

• Content Strategy Optimization: The shift to prioritize shorter content and direct availability to all audience segments contributed to increased engagement and efficiency, emphasizing the importance of adapting content strategy based on performance insights.

• Viewer Engagement Insights: The campaigns underscored the criticality of content length and engagement, with shorter content achieving better click-through rates (CTR) and overall performance. These insights highlight the low attention span of viewers and the value of concise, engaging content in driving superior campaign results.